Apparatus for refining crude petroleum



(No Model.) I

G'. L. BENTON.

APPARATUS FOR REFINING CRUDE PETROLEUM. No. 342,565. PatentedMay 25, 1886 Fly].

WITNESSES; v d/1M To all whom it may concern.-

under date of February cess of refining crude crude petroleum,

. UNITED STATES .GEORGE L.

. APPARATUS FOR REFI srncrr-roanon' forming PATENT OFFICE. I 'I part of a... Patent no. 542,565. at May'25, 1886.

Appllcallou filed May 13, 1885. Serial No. 165,310. (No model.)

'Beit known that I, GEORGE L. BENTON, of Titusville, in the county .of Crawford and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvementsin Apparatus for Refining Crude Petroleum, of which inrprovements the following is a specilication had to the accompanying reference being drawings, which form part hereof.

In a separate ap lication for Leiters Patent of the United tates, Serial No. 156,993,

scribed and claimed my improved process of refining'crude petroleum, for the conduct of which I employ the apparatus to be hereiu= after more particularly described. This propetroleumis based upon the fact that the hydrocarbonscomprising the while only mechanically mixed, are susceptible of being treated so as to become homogeneously or chemically com- 1 said process, the object I pi'peor vessel andso liquid to about.700 while maintaining a bined, and upon this principle I based the experiments involved in the development of my improved apparatus for the conduct of the of which consists, esin subjecting the crude petroleum to high heat and pressure in a chamber or regulating the heat applied astoraise the temperature of the crude Fahrenheit, or higher, pressure of about five sentiall y hundred pou lids-persqua.reinch,(more' or less,) until-the heat shall h ave been contihued, long enough and raised high enough to bring the entire body of the oil confined in the pipe or vessel to a uniform temperature. when it is next discharged in a spray into a vapor-chamber, in

, which the previous high temperature is still maintained, but the pressure removed. The dilferenthydrocarbons will vaporize simultaneously,forming a homogeneous vapor, (instead of first vaporizing the benzine and then the-next heaviest hydrocarbons, as heretofore nentioned,) and these liberated vapors will be kept homogeneous by the intimate chemical afiinity of their constituents,-.while any un- ,vaporized portions of the mass accumulating precipitate in this intermediate vessel, from the bottom of which they maybe drawn off through a suitable ,pipe or cock. Thefinal step consists in conducting the homogeneous sessing all 25,1885, I have de-' "have used with practical duct of my improved process.

ply, and providedat this end with gage, S, and an overflow pressure-valve, q, of

vapors from this vapor-chamber to an ordinary condenser, which may consist'of a coil of pipes immersed in water in a tank or other containing-vessel, and this condensation re- .duoes the vapor to a homogeneous fluid posthe more desirable properties-of high-test illuminating-oil, and containing in its-homogeneous bulk sn bstantially all of the benzine,which has heretofore been ordinarily expelled from it, asprevionsly mentioned.

In the accompanying drawings I have represented my improved apparatus such as I success in the cop- Fignre 1 is a'vertical longitudinal sectionthrongh the apparatus. Fig. 2 is a horizon tal longitudinal 1, and Fig. 3 is This. apparatus consists of a constructed of brick-work, and provided=with a grate, a, an ash-pit, b, a door, 0, a'chimney,

a-plan or top view.'

furnace, A,

section on the line an of Fig. V

d, a fire-bridge, e, and a chamber-space, f, ex-

tending from end to end and from side toside of the interior of the furnace, as seen in Figs. 1 and 2. In the chambcr-spacef is arranged the coil-pipe B, Fig. 2, connected at the rear end through the furnace-wall with the oil-supa pressure any suit-able construction, to prevent undue increase of pressure in the pipe B. .This pipe extends at the front end through the furnacewall, and is provided with a pyrometer, P. The pipe B is continued up into the'vaporchamber G, as shown, and this end of the pipe Bis provided with a rose or perforated cap, through which the can be sprayed into the chamber 0. I prefer to connect with the pipe B, outside of the fur-' nace, awaste-pipe, t, with a stop-cock, k, for a purpose to be presently described.

The vapor-chamber O is an inclosed metallic vessel of suitable strength, and made air-tight. It is fitted into the top and has a dished bottom,

has an outlet-pipe, h. leading off through the furnace to the outside. Underneath the top of this vapor-chamber C, and above thespraypipe B, is a deflecting-hood, m,'e'xtending out toward the-sides of the chamber, but having of the furnace, as shown,

which is exposed to 'the heat of the furnace or chamber f, and it highly-heated crude oil j an annular space between the edge of the hood and the side of the vapor-chamber. In the top of thevapor-chamberis apipe which leads ofi, preferably, to the manifold H, which is a condensing-box of the ordinary construction, audthence by pipes to the condenser D; or the vapor may pass directly from the chamber to theicondenser D, and at the lower end of this condenser an air-fpump may be attached, as shown in the drawings, and for a purpose to be hereinafter specified.

Astop-cock, g. is so arranged as to be operated from the outside of the vapor chamber, and to be opened or shut as it is desired to regulate the discharge of the highly-healed oil from the pipeB into the chamber C, or to contime it to the pipe B. a

'In this apparatustheoperatiou is conducted as follows: The stop-cock 9 being shut, and the waste-pipe 1', connected with the pipe B, being opened, a fire is started on the grate, a, and the crude oil is let in from the. supply to the coil-pipe B,and allowed to flow out through the waste-pipe i, (from which it is led back to the supply,) while the, pipeB and the chamber f attain the proper temperature, which will be ascertained by the observation of the workman in charge. When he finds that the fur; nace has attained the proper temperature, he shuts the waste-cock k, and, the stop cock g 'being already shut, thus confines the oil in the pipe B under the pressure of the supply, or

of a pump, '1, which feeds the oil to the pipes.-

The oil with which the pipe B is thus filled is kept in the pipe under this pressure until the pyrometer indicates that it has attained a temperature 'sufficiently high to have had the latent vaporizing efi'ect upon the oil, (in practice I-have found this temperature to range from'700 to1 ,000 Fahrenheit.)when the stopcock 9 is opened, and the released vaporized oil rushes out through the rose in the end of the pipe B, and strikes on the under side of the hood m, from which it is deflected downward, and then rises through the annular space between the hood and the wall of the chamber G, and passes into the pipe which leads direct- 13 to the condenser D or tothe manifold H, and thence by pipes to the condenser D,'and through this condenser into a receiving-tank of any ordinary construction. ltwill be unse'ases den-stood that the chamber C will have become heated before the admission of the vaporized on into it, and that its temperature is maintained by the furnace to'correspond substantially with that of the spray escaping into it 'from the coiled pipe B, through whichthepassage of the crude oil is kept up continuously under the regulated pressure at such velocity as to provide time for its required increase of temperaturewhile passing through the furnace. To promote the passage of the vapor from the chamber 0 to the condenser D, I connect an ordinary air-pump with the lower end of the coil D at d, and thus facilitate the operation. By this process I have found that the oil is raised to and maintained at asufiiciently high temperature to vaporize it as soon as it is released from the pressure under which it is confined in the pipe B, while until so released it is prevented by the pressure from vaporizing at all. and consequently when it is permitted to escape into the heated chamber 0 it bursts into vapor. and this vapor is entirely homogeneous, so that after being deflected in the chamber 0 and then risingagaiu to passoiff into the condenser D it passes off in one ho-.

lnogeneons volume, while depositing in the bottom of the chamber 0 such heavy or non-,volatilized impurities as may have been in the crude petroleum. These accumulatingimpurities are drawn off through the pipe h in the bottom of the chamber 0.

Having thus described the nature and objects of my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent. is

1. The combination, with the furnace A, of

the heating-chamber f, the latent vaporizingpipe B, connected with an oil-supply and situated within the furnace, the vapor-chamber 0, located above the furnace and directly heated thereby, and the condenser D, substantially as and for the purposes described' '2. The combination, with the furnace, of the latent vaporizing-pipe, the stop-cock g, and the feed-supply pump and overflow pressure-valve, substantially as and for the purposes described. I

' GEO. L. BENTON. Witnesses:

THEODORE BERGNER, W LLIAM 0. MAYNE. 

